Genesis 3:14-19

Common English Bible

¹⁴The Lord God said to the snake,

“Because you did this,
    you are the one cursed
        out of all the farm animals,
        out of all the wild animals.
    On your belly you will crawl,
        and dust you will eat
        every day of your life.

¹⁵I will put contempt

    between you and the woman,
    between your offspring and hers.
They will strike your head,
        but you will strike at their heels.”

¹⁶To the woman he said,

“I will make your pregnancy very painful;
in pain you will bear children.
You will desire your husband,
but he will rule over you.”

¹⁷To the man he said, “Because you listened to your wife’s voice and you ate from the tree that I commanded, ‘Don’t eat from it,’

cursed is the fertile land because of you;
        in pain you will eat from it
        every day of your life.
¹⁸Weeds and thistles will grow for you,
        even as you eat the field’s plants;
¹⁹    by the sweat of your face you will eat bread—
        until you return to the fertile land,
            since from it you were taken;
            you are soil,
                to the soil you will return.”

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Genesis 4:8-16

Common English Bible

⁸Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.”^[a] When they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.

⁹The Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?”

Cain said, “I don’t know. Am I my brother’s guardian?”

¹⁰The Lord said, “What did you do? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground. ¹¹You are now cursed from the ground that opened its mouth to take your brother’s blood from your hand. ¹²When you farm the fertile land, it will no longer grow anything for you, and you will become a roving nomad on the earth.”

¹³Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is more than I can bear. ¹⁴Now that you’ve driven me away from the fertile land and I am hidden from your presence, I’m about to become a roving nomad on the earth, and anyone who finds me will kill me.”

¹⁵The Lord said to him, “It won’t happen;^[b] anyone who kills Cain will be paid back seven times.” The Lord put a sign on Cain so that no one who found him would assault him. ¹⁶Cain left the Lord’s presence, and he settled down in the land of Nod, east of Eden.

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